Contents -- List of Figures and Tables -- About the Editors -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: "The Internet: The Latest Harbinger of Social Change" -- Chapter 1: Population -- What is the Total Population of the United States? -- Population by State -- People Living in Cities and Metropolitan Areas -- What About the Farm, Rural, and Nonmetropolitan Population -- U.S. Regional Growth and Migration -- Age and Dependency -- How Do the States Differ in the Ages of Their Populations? -- Births and Fertility -- Nonmarital Births, Teen Births -- Mortality and Life Expectancy: the Chances of Dying -- Racial and Ethnic Composition -- Chapter 2: Households and Families -- Marital Status -- Age at Marriage -- Will People Marry at All? -- Will Marriages Last? -- "Non-Traditional" Households -- Living with Grandma and Grandpa -- How are the Children Doing? -- Childcare Arrangements -- How Much Does Childcare Cost? -- Chapter 3: Social Conditions -- Aging -- Characteristics of the Elderly -- Economic Circumstances -- Health -- Impact on Government Spending -- Social Services -- Children -- Characteristics -- Indicators of Children's Well-Being -- Rural America -- Population and Migration -- Housing -- Characteristics of Farms and Farm Owners -- The Economics of Agriculture -- Immigration and Immigrants -- Legal Immigration -- Illegal Immigration -- Emigration -- Naturalization -- Foreign Born -- Language Spoken in Home and Ancestry -- Chapter 4: Labor Force and Job Characteristics -- Introduction -- Labor Force Growth -- Why People Aren't Working -- Mothers in the Labor Force -- Trends in Unemployment -- Employment Status of Blacks and Hispanics -- Extent of Work During the Year -- Persons with More Than One Job -- Occupation, Industry, and Education of Workers -- Years with Current Employer -- How Americans Travel to Their Jobs.

Union Representation -- Occupation-Related Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities -- The Retirement Years -- Current Employee Benefits -- Chapter 5: Housing -- Introduction -- Homeownership -- Indicators of Housing Quality -- Age of Housing -- Crowding -- Recent Quality Trends -- Household Characteristics and Amenities -- Heating Equipment -- Housing Costs and Affordability -- Home Purchase Lending Trends -- Non-Traditional Housing -- Emergency and Transitional Shelter Population -- Chapter 6: Income, Wealth, and Poverty -- Income -- Understanding Income Statistics -- Household Income -- Income Inequality -- Non-Cash Income -- Trends by Educational Level -- Changes in Income Over Lifetime -- Wealth -- Net Worth -- Types of Assets -- Debt -- Poverty -- Defining Poverty -- Trends in the Number of Poor -- Who is Poor? -- Depth of Poverty -- The Geography of Poverty -- Experimental Poverty Measures -- Chapter 7: Education -- School Enrollment -- High School Dropouts -- College Enrollment and Composition of Student Body -- Gauging Progress in School -- Computer Usage -- Educational Attainment and Outcomes -- Change and Continued Variation -- Adult Literacy -- Teachers: Quantity and Quality -- Teacher Salaries -- Expenditures on Education -- Chapter 8: Crime and Criminal Justice -- Introduction -- The Great Paradox -- Crime and Victims -- Victimization -- Crime Distribution -- Arrests -- Does Crime Pay? -- Convictions and Sentences -- Corrections -- Expenditures -- Chapter 9: Health -- Introduction -- Mortality -- Differences Between States -- Environmental Factors -- Healthy People -- Chronic Illness -- Physical Activity -- Overweight and Obesity -- Substance Abuse: Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco -- Contraceptive Use, Abortion, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases -- Abortion Trends -- Sexually Transmitted Diseases -- Disability.

Defining and Gauging Disability -- Types of Disability and Effects on Livelihood -- Health Insurance Coverage -- Who is not Covered? -- Sources of Coverage -- Chapter 10: Leisure, Volunteerism, and Religiosity -- Trends in Leisure Time -- Types of Leisure Activities -- Expenditures on Leisure -- Volunteerism and Giving -- How Many Volunteers? -- Government Involvement in Volunteerism -- Giving -- Religiosity -- Religious Identification -- Religion and Politics -- Chapter 11: Voting -- Eligibility to Vote -- Registration -- Turnout in National Elections -- Paying for Political Campaigns -- Chapter 12: Government -- Introduction -- Government and the Economy: An International Comparison -- Government and the Economy: A State Comparison -- The Structure of Government -- Variations in the Structure of State and Local Governments -- Comparing Public and Private Sectors of the Economy -- The Money that Funds Government -- Taxes -- How Onerous is the Tax Burden Relative to Personal Income? -- Where Does the Money Go? -- Public Employment -- Index.